Shadows of cerinia part1 of 4
by Silentdeath09
Summary: Alex wished for an amazing event to happen little did he know that fate would bring about that very event. intro first then the real story Please note that this is my first ever fanfic and the longest story ive ever written so mistakes are bound to happen
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

1

**Shadows of Cerinia **

_Prologue_

Many people can't say they have extraordinary lives, but then again most people's lives don't have the same circumstances as mine. My name is Alexander "Kitsune" Schaefer and this is my story.

Ever since I was a child, I always hoped for something amazing to happen to me, something that would change my life forever. Now I just wish for a new life, and a fresh start. I hope to leave this place and travel to other places far away from the Earth. Most people think these thoughts to be nothing more than whimsical musings of mine, but I never gave up hope. Never once did I give up my hope or my dreams, I always kept going. Things fell apart in the third grade when my first and only girlfriend left me for my best friend. One by one those who I called 'friends' left me.

Alone, hurt and betrayed, I became reclusive and lashed out at all those who hurt me. I tried repeatedly to regain that fragile peace I had but failed each time miserably. After each failure I felt myself falling farther in to the darkness that was consuming me. My hope was fading, but it never truly left me, I always felt it. Over the years some of those who left me came back and rekindled our friendships. I decided that it was best if I moved out of the city and to a small country house I found in a secluded area with a small lake by it. In spite of my connections to my friends, I still feel at time alone and empty. My hopes and dreams changed into a desire to have an amazing event to happen to change my life forever and fill the voids in it, but all my wishes fell on deaf ears.

It seemed as though it was fate that I would be doomed to live this lonely existence. Why did it seem that everything that could happen to stop me did or is happening? Was god himself against me or was it something else? I'll never know, now unbeknownst to me events were set into motion that would change my life and all those I know forever. Soon I decided enough was enough and started to do something about my problems. I'm tired of whining and crying, I am going to change my life for the better. Not long after I had changed my mind on what I wanted to happen in my life, I had made a few new friends that were more faithful than all the others before. Soon I realized that while I've hidden my wounds they were still there. I realized that while I've picked up the most of the pieces of the 'puzzle' of my life, but there were still pieces missing. I wanted to start over, but not here. I wanted to leave earth, because I would be faced with everything I dislike. I wanted a clean slate on a new world I just needed a way to leave and someone to help me adjust to life there. So I dreamed, hoped, wished and prayed for it. Finally I have something to look forward to. I'm done carrying my past; I'm ready for a new future, a new beginning. During this time of revelations, I found a song that described how I felt now, it was called 'Breaking inside by Shinedown' and it fit perfectly. I was and am tired of being the last in everything and wanted to be first for something, it's time for something new. And so my journey begins.


	2. Chapter 2

2 Page

**Ch. 1 a meeting written in fate**

Today was just another typical day of trying to beat some games. I was in the middle of playing a multiplayer match on Halo Reach, while listening to 'Breaking the habit' by Linkin Park, when I heard something that sounded strange, it sounded like a low flying jet, I was respawning so I set down my headset and listened; it didn't go away but I decided to pay it no mind. Putting back on my headset I started to play again, when I noticed that the sound was getting louder until it was so loud my house was shaking. _'What on earth is that, and who the hell is flying a jet that low around here?'_ I though as I shut off the console and TV. I tossed the controller on the armrest of my chair and went to investigate the sound.

As I walked onto the front porch and looked around, there was nothing unusual on the ground or the sky in front of me, when I realized that the sound was coming from behind me. As I spun around and looked up my eyes widened in horror as I saw an aircraft of some type was heading straight for me. Time seemed to slow as I watched it approach until it was too close for comfort and I started to run then dove for the ground. As I was lifting my head I jerked it back down and covered it with my arms as the craft met the ground in resounding crash. Clumps of dirt, bits of wood, and some rock rained down on me as I looked up and gawked at the utter devastation of my yard. The crash had destroyed my yard-from a small group of trees near my house all the way to the small lake. When I returned my attention to the craft I noticed the bow of it was in the water and it appeared to be slowly sliding into the water. I frantically started to look about me for a chute or some sort of ejection from the craft but there were none, _'not good, not good, the pilot didn't eject they must still be in there!'_ I thought panicking. I raced to the craft and saw that the water had already reached the windshield and was pouring in through a few cracks and holes. I climbed up onto the front of the craft and peered inside, looking for any signs of life, I didn't see anything and was about to give up when a hand shot up out of the darkness and proceeded to bang on the glass.

Then I heard someone screaming and it sounded like a woman. I looked closer and saw a person strapped to the front seat_, 'alright I've found the pilot, but how do I get her out?'_ I asked myself. I looked around for a rock or anything to help me break the glass. _'There's nothing here!' _I screamed in my head. Then I looked down at my hands, _'well this will hurt…a lot'_ I thought. I raised my left hand and balled it into the tightest fist I could possibly make.

"Shield your face!" I called to the pilot, though whether or not she completely understood I didn't know but she raised her arms in front of her face. _'Well here goes nothing.' _I punched into the glass as it broke I could feel bits of glass bit into my hand and arm and I felt pain like I've never felt before. _'Can't worry about that now I have to get her out of here before this ship sinks' _I thought as I undid the safety harness and started to pull her out. "Give me your hand!" I told the girl. As she raised her hand I grabbed it and pulled her out. The cold water made my arm sting and I saw a trail of blood in the water, _'well now that I saved her I have to get home and treat this before it gets out of hand'_ I thought . Lifting her up and carrying her bridal style ad began to walk to the house, I didn't get far before blood loss and exhaustion made me pass out.

As my sight faded and the ground rushed up to meet my face I was caught in the dark abyss of a recurring nightmare. In this nightmare I had friends next to me and behind me but we were surrounded by creatures that I had not seen before nor did in understand what was happening but instinctly knew they were enemies. As the monsters closed the gap between our groups, someone in mine foolishly ran out and tried to attack the monsters, but was overpowered and was soon killed. "Stay together! No one go out there!" I yelled. Despite of the approaching enemies and the impending fight I was strangely calm, but all that changed when one of the brutes before us began their attack. We were holding our own for a while but soon were losing ground and people. Before the end I saw a very good friend of mine fall before my eyes. His dying words were, "I'm sorry, I let you down, Alex." Anger. Anger like I've never felt before welled up inside me my field of vision soon turned blood red and I felt like I was no longer controlling my body. Almost as if my spirit had left the body to something else I heard myself yell "Noooo! I will kill you!" then the dream ends.

I awake to see not the colors of my backyard but the dull white of the inside of my house_. 'Wha…what happened?'_ I asked myself. _'Oh! Now I remember I saved a girl from her sinking ship but how did I get here and where is that girl?' _then I heard some banging coming from the kitchen. _'Who could be in there?'_ I wondered. I sat up and felt and burst of pain shoot up my side. I looked down and saw the side I injured was bandaged but blood had already darkened most of it. _'How…. The girl she must have did this! But how would she know where my first-aid kit is?' _I pondered. 'Ok, now easy does it.' I thought as I slowly stood up and walked towards the kitchen then I heard a voice and it was speaking a language that I didn't understand.

"Iwx, nxoho aj ak xo xulo mijk xulo ak eh jemokxadw jamacuh." Was what the voice said. _'from the sounds of it that was definitely a girl's voice, possibly the one I saved. I think it's time for an introduction.' _I thought as I neared thekitchen.

"Uh, hello? My names.." then the pain shot up my side again and I fell to my knees clutching at my left side. Then I heard footsteps heading towards me and heard a voice say, "de de Oei sud'k ro if! Oei uho jkacc xihk." I looked up to see the one who said it but my vision was blurred.

I looked back down because of the pain that went lancing up my side again. I was gasping for air but managed to say, "I don't understand you." Then a strange warmth filled my mind, and just as quickly as it came it was gone.

"Oh I'm sorry; I forgot you don't speak my language." She said. _'How does she know English? Just a few moments ago she was speaking another language. What's going on here?' _I thought. Then I heard giggling and looked up.

"Well, the answer is simple; I'm a telepath." She said to me. _'A telepath huh? Wait that means I can't hide anything from her!' _I realized. Then I felt a hand on my uninjured shoulder, "Don't worry I'll try to keep my mind to myself as much as I can.

I sighed, "Ok that's fine, at least it explains how I got here, and how you knew where the first aid kit was." she nodded. Then she noticed the rapidly growing splotch of red thoroughly soaking the bandages on my side and arm.

"We need to take care of that, come on I'll help you." She said as she helped me to my feet and into the living room.

As I sat down I asked her, "Why are you helping me?"

"Why did you help me?" she retorted.

Then I thought about it and said, "Because it was the right thing to do."

"Exactly that's why I'm helping you now, because it's the right thing to do, and repay you for saving me." She replied. After she said that my side was completely unwrapped and I saw the extend of the damage; there were several long deep gashes running along my side and part of my arm, then smaller cuts started around my elbow and ran to my hand, and there was blood coming from my wounds.

"Well, I knew it was bad but not this bad." I said more to myself than anyone else.

"It was worse a day ago, trust me." She said. _'What! A day! I was out for one whole day! And my injuries were worse than this? They didn't look that bad.' _I saw her grab a bottle of peroxide to cleanse my wounds when I saw a strange glow coming from a necklace she was wearing and one coming from the one I had on the entertainment center. The glow was calming and peaceful, until my arm started to burn like it was on fire and it felt itchy and my skin looked to be flowing back together. When the worse was over I felt a searing pain that felt like I was being branded in the area between my neck and collarbone and when it was over I saw a tattoo in the lights place. This tattoo had the cardinal arrows around a spiral with a jet black symbol in the center. The symbol was the same one I had engraved onto my necklace; it was the Japanese kanji for Kitsune the Japanese word for fox spirit.

'_Ok this is just getting weirder and weirder.' _I thought then said to the girl, "I think some explications are in order."

She sighed, "You're right, but first I think we should introduce ourselves. My name is of Krystal the planet Cerinia." Then I realized something; not only have I felt like I've seen this girl, now that I remember it I've also heard about the planet she mentioned-Cerinia. All of a sudden I remembered something about that planet, but it was from a game, and mumbled out loud, "it was destroyed."

"How did you know?" she asked. _'Crap, not good how do I explain to her that everything I know about her came from her video game self?'_

"What is a video game?" I heard her ask. _'Uh oh, how do I explain __that__ to her?' _I asked myself. Then she asked, "Explain what to me?"

I chuckled and said "you sure do have a lot of questions and so do I, but first to answer your first question; in short before you crashed I only knew you as a character in a video game, a type of electronic entertainment."

"Oh, so you already know a lot about me from this game?" she questioned.

"Well, yes and no, for instance I don't know much about you as a person, what you like what you dislike and so forth." I answered her.

"Ah, I see that is a rather large gap to have for any one person to have about another, but why were you so interested in me in the first place?" _'Oh great she had to ask but I can't tell her, because she might leave like so many others did and I just couldn't take it, but how to tell her?' _I was conflicted, on one hand I wanted to tell her, but on the other I was afraid of driving her away.

"You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable," She said.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. _'Oh man, in all the commotion I forgot to tell her my name.' _ "Sorry I forgot to tell you my name, its Alex. Alex Schaefer, but my friends all call me Kitsune." "Alex, that's a nice name." "Thank you, Krystal is a nice name as well." _'Well that went better than I expected. At least I didn't embarrass myself, as I usually do.' _"Ok now for my questions," I told her.

"Very well ask away."She said.

"uh, ok first how did you get here?" She opened her mouth as if to speak but then closed it and seem lost in thought.

"To tell you the truth I don't really know, I'm not even sure where here is." "Well this planet is called, Earth and is located in the Sol system of the milky way Galaxy." I explained. "Is it anywhere near the lylat system?" she asked. _'Lylat? Where…. Oh now I remember it was the system in which all star fox games , except adventures, took place.'_

I sighed, "no, I don't think earth is anywhere near the lylat system, but I'm sure we can find it on some star charts I have, that is if you want to." She seemed afraid and sad all of a sudden, and I noticed and asked, " are you ok?"

"All of my friends, my things, everything I know is there." She said quietly

"Krystal, it's ok you will get back, I'll help you, trust me, you will get back that I promise you." I told her

She was close to tears after I said that and spoke quietly, "Thank you Alex, but from what I saw in your mind you are alone here, true you may have friends but they leave you alone, so in reality you are alone and if I leave you will be alone once again."

I looked away from her, "you may be right, but I've wanted to leave this place behind for a while now. This place holds many memories and most of them aren't pleasant ones. For four years I've been waiting for a means to leave and a place to go. I want this to be a second chance for me and I don't want to pas this up."

"But Alex, your life, everything you know and own is here; surely you don't want to leave all this behind." She argued. "You are right my life is here, but I think I have something to show you how I feel, I'll be right back." I stood and walked to my room and grabbed off my computer my iPod touch, and went back to the living room. As I rounded the corner into the living room Krystal saw me and the IPod in my hand, "what's that?" she asked, her curiosity obviously peaked. "Well this is a IPod touch" I said while holding up the device so she could better see it, "what does it do?" "it allows the user to listen to music, play games, and use the internet." I explained simply."Internet? What's That?" "Ah, well the internet is a global database that allows for the instantaneous transfer of data from around the world." "Oh, so is this what you wanted to show me?" "Oh, no I wanted to show you a song that is from it." "and what is that?" "it's a song called second chance by shinedown, and before you ask shinedown is a band." "oh, ok." "now just listen and understand." Then the song begins, as l laid my head against the couch.__

_My eyes are open wide  
and by the way, I made it  
through the day  
I watched the world outside  
By the way, I'm leaving out today_

I could feel Krystal's eyes staring at me and I hoped she understood

_I just saw Hayley's comet  
Shooting  
Said why you always running in place?  
Even the man in the  
Moon disappeared  
somewhere in the  
Stratosphere_

_[Chorus]__  
Tell my mother,  
Tell my father  
I've done the best I can  
To make them realize  
This is my life  
I hope they understand  
I'm not angry, I'm just saying...  
Sometimes goodbye  
Is a second chance_

Please don't cry  
One tear for me  
I'm not afraid of  
What I have to say  
This is my one and  
Only voice  
So listen close, it's  
Only for today

I just saw Hayley's comet  
Shooting  
Said why you always running  
In place?  
Even the man in the  
Moon disappeared  
Somewhere in the Stratosphere

_[Chorus]__  
Tell my mother,  
Tell my father  
I've done the best I can  
To make them realize  
This is my life  
I hope they understand  
I'm not angry, I'm just saying...  
Sometimes goodbye  
Is a second chance_

Here's my chance  
This is my chance

Tell my mother,  
Tell my father  
I've done the best I can  
To make them realize  
This is my life  
I hope they understand  
I'm not angry, I'm just saying...  
Sometimes goodbye  
is a second chance

sometimes goodbye  
is a second chance _[x2]_

"So, now do you understand? I want; no I need a second chance to change my life for the better. I want to change, to be a better person, and I really think that if I go with you I can do that." I said still not looking at her. "Wow Alex, I didn't know, but how are we going to get there?" "Well it may be possible to fix your ship, but I don't know if I have the right tools or supplies to do it. All we may be able to do is jury-rig a transmitter and send a signal for help to the lylat system but hopefully we won't need to resort to that but it's our only other option." "Well ok but how will we get the shuttle out of the lake?" she asked. "Hm, that will be a problem; maybe a can call some friends to help, not only with the recovering of the shuttle, but also with the repairs to it and if need be disassembly of it for the transmitter." "Well, if you think we need to, then it's ok with me." "Alright I will go make some calls be right back." I turned and walked to my room where I kept my house phone. When I called my friends I gave them each the same message, "hey, can you come over I need your help with something, but be prepared for a surprise when you get here." After I hung up, my stomach growled, and I groaned, _'that's right I haven't eaten for two days, I should get some food before my friends come.' _I left my room and went to the kitchen, and grabbed some instant ramen from the cabinet. Then I called out, "hey Krystal you hungry?" I didn't hear a reply but heard her rush into the kitchen nearly knocking me over, "whoa, slow down the kitchens not going anywhere." I may not have been able to see her blush a different color but the expression on her face said it all, "aw come on, it's ok, here pick one." I said to reassure her. "Uh, what are they?" "Oh these are instant ramen noodles, and trust me its good." "Ok, I will have the oriental one." "Good choice, and I will have the roast chicken." When she opened hers I saw a look of disappointment flash across her face before she asked, "How do I eat this it's just a block of something stringy." "Well that's the noodles and they are uncooked I need to cook them." I said holding my hand out for the cup. She handed me the cup and I filled each to the fill line on the inside of the cup with water and put them in the microwave for three minutes.

As soon as the timer went off I took them out and poured the flavor packets in and took out some chopsticks and stirred the flavor packets contents in and handed Krystal's to her as well as a pair of chopsticks then began eating mine. As I was eating I felt like she was staring at me and I looked up and saw that she was in fact looking at me with a confused look on her face. When she saw me look up she quickly looked down at her food, "what is it?" I asked. "Hmm? Oh uh how do I eat with these?" she asked timidly. "Oh, is that all? Well you hold them like this." I said, holding up my chop sticks, "with one set in between your thumb and index finger and let it rest on your ring finger, then take the other one and hold it with your thumb and middle finger, like this." I said once again holding up my chopsticks. After she got it and ate her food the sound of tires on gravel took our immediate attention, "well they are here, and you better stay in my room for now, as not to startle my friends because they have not seen a person like you before." "Do you not have foxes on Earth?" "Well, yes but ours don't walk on two legs, have blue fur, or talk." I explained. "Oh, well then I can see the need for caution, when you need me I'll be in your room, just come get me." "I try to hurry, but don't expect my friends to be quick to understand, unlike with me it may take some time before they adjust to your appearance. Be back as soon as I can."

As soon as I heard my bedroom door close and car doors open, I walked to the living room and took a deep breath, _'well here goes nothing.'_ I was nervous, and began to doubt the wisdom of calling **all** of my friends, and began to worry about how they would react to Krystal. _'I hope they don't overreact like most of them tend to do.' _I sighed "well may as well let them in now." I mumbled to no one in particular. I had opened the door right as they were about to knock on it. "Hello Alex." Hello Ray, Corey, Tyler, and everyone else." "Well Alex what did you call us for you said you need our help and that you had a surprise for us, so what's up?" Ray said. "Well I think I should show you the problem first, follow me." I said, then turned and led them around to my backyard. "Alex what happened here?" Tyler said. "Look into the water, and you will see." I watched as they leaned over the water's edge and peer into the placid surface. "Alex I don't see anything except… wait what is that? Some type of aircraft?" "Yes Corey, but to be more specific it's a shuttle." "Did anyone survive the crash?" "Yes, but she wouldn't have if I wasn't here." "She? The pilot was a girl?" I sighed and shook my head in frustration, "yes and she is inside and I think you should meet her." "What's her name?" someone asked. "My, you are all certainly impatient but fine, her names Krystal. Now please follow me." And the moment I was dreading was rapidly approaching. I was silent the whole way to the house and was listening to the conversations behind me.

As we walked up the front steps I stopped and turned around and said, "Now Krystal is different than the rest of us in terms of appearance, so please don't overreact like so many of you like to and just stay calm and be courteous to her right now she's all of our guest, just wait you will see what I mean." I opened the door and walked in, "please stay here I will be back with her." I turned and walked to my room and started to hear music, and groaned, _'she must have been messing around with my IPod or some of my other music players' _I slowly opened the door and saw Krystal sprawled out on my bed with my IPod in her hands. "I see you got yourself right at home." I said chuckling. I sat down on the bed and she said, "I'm sorry Alex, hope you don't mind." "Ah, its ok, no harm done, just next times ask if you want to use my IPod, because often it's doing something and if you try to use it then it will mess it up." "Ok, sorry." "Don't be, come on the others are waiting to meet you, and I've tried to prepare them but some may still freak out, but don't worry they will probably calm down after a while, I hope." I told her. She took a deep breath and said, "ok let's go." I started to walk out of my room with her right next to me with her arms intertwined with mine, and with every step her grip tightened, as a sign of her nervousness. I looked at her and said, "It'll be ok, just relax. True making first impressions is important, but getting worked up over this is not good, and not healthy. So just take some deep breaths and relax, don't be so tense." "Thank you Alex." She said. Despite what I said she did not relinquish her grip and actually drew closer to me.

We continued walking until we rounded the corner to the living room, and all heads turned towards us and they all looked startled and shocked by her appearance. The air in the room became filled with tension and stress from my friends. As I led Krystal into the room those closest to us withdrew and retreated from their previous location and huddled together on one side of the room. "Come on, way to make her feel welcome. Jeez and here I thought you all feared nothing." I groaned aloud. "We are not afraid." Ray boasted, "then why are you all huddled in a corner on the other side of the room." He opened his mouth to respond but closed it and looked ashamed. "Now the reason I called you all here is her ship is the one you saw at the bottom of the lake and I need your help to get it out and hopefully repair it." "Why do you want to repair it?" Tyler asked, "Well Krystal wants to go home and I am going with her." I saw them all stiffen up, _'I think that got their attention'_ I thought. "But Alex, why? Your life is here everything you own is here, why?" "Tyler, you know the song Second Chance by Shinedown?" "Yes, but what does that have to do with this?" "Well I want a second chance at life; a clean slate, as it were. I think that if I go with Krystal I can have that chance." Corey stood up and walked over to me and said, "If you think that is best then I'm all for it." I glanced at him, "you don't know how much that means to me, now let's get to work. First we need to get the shuttle out of the water so we can make the repairs." "How do we do that? It's a very large shuttle." "I know this seems like a daunting task that seems impossible, but if we work together we can do it. All we need are some truck pulling from the shore and some people in the water pushing from behind if that doesn't work, well then we will figure something out, but we will never know if we don't try." "Well it's worth a shot; it might be able to work if half of us are on land and the other half are in the water." I turned to the rest and said, "The half that are going into the water follow me." "And the other half follow me." Tyler said. "We can do this with teamwork." I said leaving the room to grab my scuba gear.

I went into my room and grabbed out of my closet my wet suit, goggles, rebreather unit, and oxygen tank and while I was donning the wet suit, I felt two arms wrap themselves around my torso. Then a voice say, "thank you Alex, no one has ever done anything like this for me." "Krystal, what do you mean I'm sure anyone would do the same for you as I have." "No, no one has really been as kind to me as you have." "I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't help you, there's no reason not to." I said zipping up the suit. "Here let me help you with that." "thanks." With Krystal's help I shouldered the tank after attaching the rebreather and putting on the goggles. "Well I better go out there they will need my help." "Ok, but be careful." She said leaning up and kissing my cheek. As I left the room a smile spread across my lips and I thought, _'my life has changed for sure, and for the better.'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch. 2 the journey begins- pt.1 Transformation**

After I met up with my group, we headed towards the water and jumped in right as the trucks pulled up to the shore. Tyler, Ray, and Corey simultaneously yelled, "Here catch!" as they tossed the tow lines to my group and I said, "ok now we need to attach these lines to the back of the shuttle, then as the trucks pull the back, we will push the front and with any luck we can recover it to repair it." Then I dove beneath the surface. I was the first to reach the wreck and attach the line, and then oversaw the rest of my retrieval teams' progress. After the last line was attached I used the built in comm. System that was in my facemask and told the second team on shore to start pulling.

"Got it Alex, we will start pulling, just tell us when you are in position." Tyler said in his comm. Unit. "Ok tell you when we are ready." I switched off the unit and signaled my group to descend to the bow. I positioned myself in the middle of the cockpit and had my team spread out to both sides of me, then switched my comm. Unit back on and said, "Ok Tyler we are all set down here, start pulling." "Got it." Was his reply.

Soon after I saw the tow lines become taught and the shuttle slowly start to move. I gave the signal to push on the ship. _'Just a little further'_ I told myself then we started to lose ground as the ship began to sink back down again. _'No, no, NO! Not now! Not when we are so close!'_ I screamed in my head then just when I thought things couldn't get worse the mark on my neck began to burn and glow. I was struggling to ignore the pain and concentrated on what I was doing but it was extremely difficult. I started to get angry and thought _'Why? Why do things like this happen to me? Why does everything fall apart around me? WHY?'_

"Alex what's going on down there? There is this strange glow coming from where you are." I heard Ray ask. "It's me." I said.

"What do you mean 'it's me'?" Tyler said "I'll show you later we need to finish this. Put all you trucks power into it we are almost there." I said. After that and much struggling the stern of the shuttle breached the surface. My team was exhausted and after we made it to the shore we all collapsed from it. I was the last one to reach the shore and when I got there I clutched my shoulder in pain as it had not stopped glowing yet. Panting hard I managed to gasp, "We did it, good." Then I blacked out.

When I awoke I found myself in my house again but not the living room but my room. Then I tried to sit up, but I felt a strange weight on my right side that prevented me from getting up. I looked down and saw it was Krystal _'she must have fallen asleep'_ I mused. I wanted to nudge her or slide away from her but for some odd reason I smiled and just laid still. I was listening to her breathing and I felt more at peace than ever before and I thought _'I'm glad I choose to go with her she might just be what I've needed all this time.' _Then I felt her breathing increase and I looked at her as she yawned and looked at me. "Uh, hi Krystal is everything ok?" I asked. Then the most surprising thing that day happened she pulled me into a tight hug, "I thought I told you to be careful." She said. When my momentary shock and paralysis wore off I returned the hug. "Krystal what's this all about?" I questioned.

"Well Alex I was worried." She said. "About me?" I asked. _'Why was she worried about me, what happened?'_

"Yes Alex, about you." She said. "Uh, ok why were you worried about me?" I asked her. "Well I was watching what you were doing and after the ship was brought up to the house I saw you collapsed on the ground unconscious and brought you in here." She told me.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked_._"Oh they are outside examining my shuttle; they say they find it 'intriguing' "She explained.

"Yeah that sounds like them always eager to look at new things but mostly to take them apart." I said turning to look at her, "but I'll try to convince them otherwise." I assured her. "Still I'm concerned about why I all of a sudden passed out like that. All I know is that this started to glow and when I got on shore it was still glowing and I caused some pain, then I passed out." I said pointing to the spiral tattoo on my collar bone.

"Here, let me look at it" Krystal said. When she got a closer look I heard her gasp and said "I've seen this spiral before." I looked at her and said, "Really? Where have you seen this before?"Then she pointed at her hips. "You have a pair of them? One on each hip?" I asked my curiosity roused.

She nodded then said, "Except the difference is that they aren't crimson or have that black symbol in the center but other than that they are exactly the same." I closed my eyes and nodded and thought _'I wonder what it means then symbol on my collar bone, I know the black part is a Japanese Kanji character for kitsune which translates to fox, but what does the spiral mean?'_ I was brought out of my thoughts when my stomach rumbled rather loudly.

I scratched the back of my head and laughed nervously and said, "Um, I guess I'm hungry." All I saw Krystal do was close her eyes, tilt her head to the side, and smiled at me. "But first I need to get out of this suit and shower, I reek." I said scrunching up my face in disgust at the smell.

Then I heard Krystal sniffing and saw she also made a face at the smell then I said, "what do I really smell that bad?" then she looked at me and said, "no it's not you it's me I really stink after all I was in that water longer than you when you saved me and I haven't had time to wash up so I should go first." I remained silent in thought and said, "very well but those cloths you have on need to be washed, do you have any others?"

"No I don't." she said "hmm, that may be a problem but I think I have a solution go get washed up, just leave your cloths in front of the bathroom door and I will have some clean ones for you to wear." I said

She nodded her head then said, "Ok Alex that's fine with me." Then she turned and left the room. _'Well now what?'_ I asked myself. _'Maybe some of my old cloths that no longer fit me will work, though they may be a little big on her. I just have to take her shopping tomorrow for some new cloths and some for me as well'_ I decided and walked to my dresser and pulled out a shirt and some pants. _'May as well do it right.'_ I thought as I looked for some scissors to cut a hole in the pants for Krystal's tail. _'These should work at least until tomorrow.' _

I heard the bathroom door open and close rapidly and poked my head out of my room and saw Krystal's cloths lying in a pile in front of the door. I crouched down and scoped them up and replaced them with the clean ones and walked to the laundry room to wash my wet suit and Krystal's cloths and dropped them into the washing machine put in the detergent and started it after closing the lid. I turned and walked back to my room and was greeted with the sight of my closed bedroom door. Walking closer I heard the wet squish of the carpet under me feet and looked down and saw that the carpet was soaked with water and there was a trail of it leading from the bathroom to my room. I turned to the hallway closet and pulled out some towels and set them down on the floor to soak up the water. After the hallway was reasonably dry I knocked on my door and said, "Krystal why is the hallway wet?"

I saw the bedroom door crack open a little bit and saw one of Krystal's emerald eyes look at my from behind the door. "Sorry Alex." She said sheepishly "Well its ok I managed to clean up most of it but why was there so much water to begin with?" I asked.

"Well there was nothing to dry off with." _'Nothing to dry off with what does she… oh how stupid of me.' _I turned and went back to the closet and pulled out another towel. I walked back to the room and knocked on the door.

"Here Krystal, I have a towel for you to dry off with." I said. The door cracked open a bit and her hand poked out reaching for the towel, I held it out and she grabbed it and closed the door. Then the door opened and Krystal stood there with the towel wrapped around her, she opened her mouth as if to speak but closed it almost immediately. Then I remembered, _'oh the cloths! I almost forgot about them!' _I entered the room and closed the door behind me and walked to my dresser and grabbed the cloths from on top of it. "Here Krystal I think these should fit you and I cut a hole in the pants for your tail." I told her as I turned around and handed them to her.

"Thank you Alex." She said. I turned back to my dresser and grabbed some cloths for me then I left the room and went to the bathroom. I entered, stripped down, and went into the shower, as I felt the hot water hit my skin I looked to the mark on my neck and put my hand on it and my eyes widened as I felt it. 'What is it?' I asked myself as I felt if and I realized what it was 'fur, I'm growing fur, but how and why?' a billion more questions swirled in my head and I eventually gave-up on trying to figure it out and guessed it was a result of the mark somehow. I sped through the rest of my shower and after drying off I dress all except a shirt and stood there looking at the fur that was growing out of the mark. It was a blood red color except where it neared my chest where it became white. 'Well this is certainly going to be interesting' I mused and looked out the bathroom window and realized how late it was. I left with my shirt still in my hand as I went to the garage. As I got closer I heard the sound of power tools and other equipment being used. I walked in and saw my friends Ray, Corey, and Tyler still working on Krystal's shuttle. As I examined it I saw that it had been cleaned and repainted so it looked like it was brand new. 'Wow they must've really been working hard but it's late and they need something to eat as well as a break' I though before I called out to them. "Hey you guys think it's about time you called it quits?" the machinery stopped and they came from where they were working covered in dirt, grease, and other grime and they looked like they've seen better days. "Yeah I think we could use a break." Tyler said and the others nodded. "Ok I'll make some food for you guys while you get cleaned up." Then Ray called out, "it better be actual food, not that ramen you like to eat." I made a face at that and said, "But ramen is good."

"Maybe for you but we need real food not instant ramen" Tyler countered. "Touché." I said then thought about what else I could make them and said, "I have just the thing." But before I could leave Corey said, "Hold it Alex." I stopped and turned around and he came up to me "I have some questions for you about that" he said pointing to the mark.

"And is that FUR!" Tyler asked as he came up behind Corey. I sighed, "Ok you guys win. I'll answer all of your questions as best as I can but there is one person who can tell you more than I could."

"Well? Who is it?" asked Tyler. I simply said, "Krystal. Follow me I'm sure she can explain it." I turned and started towards the house while pulling on my shirt. I walked into the house and made a beeline to my room where I figured Krystal would be. When I entered I was greeted by Krystal looking at my sketch books. I watched the facial expressions Krystal made as she viewed each drawing.

"Uh… Krystal?" I said to get her attention. She jerked her head up ad quickly shut my Sketch book. I walked to face her and she looked down_. 'Why does she do that?'_ I _wondered 'she knows I don't mind if she looks at my stuff all except for my iPod but she doesn't know the real reason and she can't find out just yet.' _I sat down next to her and said, "The others have some questions for you while I make some food."

She turned her head and said, "Questions? About what?" then I scratched the back of my head and stood up. "Well about this." I replied pulling off my shirt revealing the growing patch of fur on my shoulder. She looked at it and stood up then walked to me and put her hand on the spot where the fur was growing. What an interesting feeling that was, but also strangely pleasing. I looked down then and saw that the fur had progressed further down on my torso and arm and was almost to my right shoulder. I watched curious and horrified at what was happening right before my eyes. I was changing, into what exactly I did not know, but I was changing none the less.

"Krystal do you know what's happening to me?" I asked her. I saw the look of shock and confusion on her face and I realized that even she might not know what exactly is happening to me.

"No, Alex, I don't know what's happening to you. I've never seen anything like this before." I nodded my head, "I see." "I'm sorry I can't be of more help." "No it's ok but the others want to talk to you I'll be out in a little bit, I need to think alone for a while." She nodded her head and brushed her hand across my cheek as she walked by. As soon as she left I sat down on my bed and rested my head in my hands. _'So much has happened these past few days, I've learned so much about aspects of myself I thought were lost but this transformation changes everything.' _I thought. _'I have faced everything that life has thrown at me and I have withstood those assaults but now I think this is life's knockout punch it completely took me off guard and for once I don't have a solution, answers, or explanations.'_ I sighed to myself and stood up and walked to me dresser. _'There's no use in getting all worked up over this'_ I told myself. _'I guess I will just have to deal with it.' _I opened a small case on top of my dresser and pulled out my small flute. I also pulled out my favorite piece of music and walked back to me bed. I sat and began to play.

-Mean while in the living room-Krystal's POV

"Hmm I think I understand." Tyler said nodding his head. "Really you get it? Because I'm not sure I do." Ray told him. I stood there and let them absorb what I had just told them. Then I heard something beautiful. "What is that?" I said more to myself than anyone else but the others heard it and stood up.

"What is what?" Corey asked. I looked at him and said, "I hear music." They looked like they were straining their hearing to pick it up but they could hear it now as well. "Ah, well that's Alex for you. Ever since I met him when he was thinking about something very important or is upset about something he will pull out his flute and play some music." Tyler said. "From what I could see, it put him into a calmer state of mind." He added. I turned and walked to Alex's bedroom. I paused as I reached it and stood there listening to the music. Then I slowly opened the door and walked in.

-Alex's POV-

I was playing 'inner light', my favorite piece of music I found for this particular flute. I was currently in the middle of it when I heard the door open and looked up still playing and saw Krystal standing there watching me. I looked back down at the music sheet and kept on playing. I soon finished and looked up at Krystal and she looked like she had a question that she wanted to ask but couldn't. "What is it Krystal?" I asked. "Hmm oh nothing, Alex really I was just listening to you play." "Oh well in that case what did you think?" I asked "it was very nice, Alex I've never heard anything like it." She complemented

"Oh stop it I'm not that good." I truly did not think I was as good as she said I was but I began to wonder if it was a possibility. I was looking down at the instrument in my hands and felt a sharp pain at the tips of my fingers. I looked down and saw that my nails and turned black, and were elongating as well as sharpening. The fur on my arms had also reached my wrists and was still moving along my body. I watched, fascinated and terrified at the transformation of my body. I soon felt a tingling sensation in my neck and I figured the fur had reached it and began its climb up my neck and head. As the fur reached my chin I felt my teeth change; they grew longer and sharper in my mouth. I opened my mouth slightly and soon my teeth stopped growing. I had to resist the urge to feel my teeth and finally closed my mouth. I felt the fur cease its journey up my neck and I exhaled a breath I didn't know I was holding. I began to relax, thinking that my transformation was over, boy was I wrong. As I went to stand up a slight tingling in my eyes caught my attention, and I just shrugged thinking that they were just itchy. Before I could take my first step, the tingling in my eyes turned to a fierce burning, almost as if my eyes were set ablaze while they were in my head. I sharply inhaled and tried not to cry out but it was very difficult. I reached up and did what most people would probably do in a situation like this; I tried to end the pain. As I reached up to try and claw out my eyes to stop the pain, I felt a pair of hands grasp mine and stopped me from doing it. I felt hot tears, at least that's what I thought it was, rolling down my face as the burning intensified. With this sudden increase in pain, I felt my legs grow weak, like they would if I had been running for a few miles, and they gave out on me. The hands released me and the strength to put my arms out escaped me, and my face collided with the floor. I tasted the hot metallic flavor of my blood, but that wasn't my immediate concern as the burning finally ebbed. I laid there panting, without the strength to pick myself up of the ground. Slowly I noticed my vision that was blurred from the pain and the 'tears', become better than it was before. When my strength returned I sat up and wiped what I thought was tears off my face, and when I pulled my hand away I saw that it was not tears I had been crying, but blood. I jumped up, startling Krystal, who was sitting behind me, and ran to the bathroom. What I saw when I looked in the mirror horrified me. My once light blue eyes had changed to a dark ice blue and the pupils were not round as most are, but silted like a cats would be. Then I looked down at my hand that still hand blood on it and raised it_. 'What in the world caused this?'_ I wondered.

I then washed my hand and face to rid myself of my own blood then couldn't help thinking _'I'm going to have to leave sooner than I thought I would. Though I planned almost everything out, I didn't plan on being transformed into something.'_ I lifted my head and looked into the mirror, at what I am now. _'Here I am trying to help someone get back home and go on the adventure of a lifetime and now I am undergoing a transformation that I have no control over!'_ I fell to my knees and slumped against the sink, looking at my now fully transformed hand I said quietly, "I'll never be able to go into public again, at least not here. No here I would be considered a freak and other such things." Then a thought occurred to me _'my life here is over, my new life is just beginning.'_ With that new thought burning all doubtful ones away, I stood and walked out. _'Well it's time to face my friends and explain to them what's going on.' _I closed the door behind me and walked to the living room.


End file.
